Drakensberg trout fishing success
Carp - Over the last week quite a few anglers have hooked into decent fish, but Inanda in particular has been the money maker. We have received reports of good size carp from the upper dam near the mouth and also the south section of the camp sites. Here’s some advice from a group of anglers that fish Inanda on a weekly basis and have been using this feed successfully. The "secret” mix consists of 4kg of hemp, 4kg of maize, 2kg of tiger nuts and, in winter, 500g of boilies. This has been a successful mix for months and seems to work at Inanda and Shongweni as well. Try this over the next few months to ensure fish move onto your swim. It is all about the feed.
Trout - With the temperature of the water in the Midlands and Drakensberg dropping, the trout fishing has picked up nicely with reports of very good fish being taken. As with your winter pattern, lots of anglers use tandem fly set-ups. This consists of a bright coloured fly such as an egg pattern, red setter, Alaskan omelet etc. and a very small dropper fly such as a flashback GRHE, or epoxy buzzer, black or olive, and a floating line is used with a strike indicator. The coloured fly is there to get the attention of the fish, but nine times out of ten the fish will take the nymph or dropper fly. This method has been successful throughout the Drakensberg area over the last week as reports suggest.
Bass - Waters have been extremely cold of late, which has driven anglers to fish deep and slow. More success has been seen at Inanda and Albert Falls on the ridges and drop-offs. Bigger baits have been the key to success with bigger fish over the last week and many reports of good fish being landed on paddletails. The reason why the paddletails have been so successful is that they give off more vibration and can be easily located by the bass, especially in the deeper and darker water. Shongweni has been slow with only small fish taken on the weekend. Anglers on float tubes have done well in the river section in Hazelmere on June Bug Brush Hogs and lizards.
(File Photo:Gallo Images)
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